Since November 2017, Elise Wortley has been following in the footsteps of some of history鈥檚 great women adventurers. And she鈥檚 been doing so using the equipment that would have been available to the women in their eras鈥攔ight down to the itchy woolen underwear.

The idea of recreating women鈥檚 adventures came to Wortley, a Brit who鈥檚听now 30, while reading听My Journey to Lhasa at 16 years old. An adventure classic, the book was written by the French Buddhist scholar Alexandra David-N茅el听and follows her time spent slipping past armed guards and over snowy mountain passes into Tibet. The Tibetan capital was forbidden to foreigners at the time, so she disguised herself as a local pilgrim and hoped she wouldn鈥檛 be discovered. She was 55 when she became the first Western woman to reach the region鈥檚 capital听in 1924.

While reading, Wortley found herself amazed by David-N茅el鈥檚 confidence. If she could go on a boat and across the world not having a clue what lay ahead, then I must have that confidence somewhere, too,听she thought.

After graduating from art school in her early twenties, Wortley began working for a travel company in London. Then she got sick. 鈥淚 was basically dizzy for about a year,鈥� she says. Unable to take the bus, or even get on the subway, she couldn鈥檛 go in to the office. 鈥淣o one knew what was wrong with me. I had all sorts of tests before a doctor realized it was anxiety.鈥�

Stuck at home, Wortley began rereading My Journey to Lhasa and started plotting to set off like David-N茅el.

After finding anxiety medication that worked for her, seeking out sponsors, and saving up money from her job in PR, Wortley began traveling. First, in 2017, she hiked 110 miles from Lachen, India, near the Tibetan border, west to Kanchenjunga, the third-highest mountain in the world. Then, in 2019, she spent three weeks traversing the granite slopes of the Scottish Highlands, inspired by Nan Shepherd, who wrote her ode to the Cairngorms,听The Living Mountain, in the midst of World War II. On both expeditions, Wortly听wore, as much as possible, the gear that was available to female explorers at the time. (Finding genuine 1920s sunglasses at a decent price proved impossible, though.)

But Wortley鈥檚 not done yet. Next听she plans to embark听on journeys inspired by the lives of explorer Freya Stark, climber Annie Smith Peck, and warrior nun Ani Pachen. 鈥淚t would be my dream to get to celebrate and follow all of these women鈥檚 footsteps,鈥� she says. 鈥淕oing out in just the basics, I鈥檝e realized how little I actually need to go outside.鈥�

Here鈥檚 the gear Wortley took on her first expedition to the Himalayas, following David-N茅el.听

Chairpack

Going for between $327 and $393听on eBay, backpacks dating back to the early 1900s aren鈥檛 cheap. So Wortley decided to do some upcycling and make her own. She found an abandoned chair on the street in the London suburb of Brixton, chopped off the legs, fashioned a frame, and took the contraption in her luggage to India. Once she arrived in the northern city of Gangtok, she attached a wicker basket she bought at the market for the equivalent of $4. And the 鈥渃hairpack鈥澨齱as born, rope straps and all.

The pack was sturdy and held up surprisingly well, but the same couldn鈥檛 be said of Wortley鈥檚 shoulders. 鈥淭hey were pretty red raw,鈥� she says, 鈥渂ut I started using my wool mittens under the ropes for a bit of protection, and that worked well.鈥�

Yak-Wool Hat

In My Journey to Lhasa, David-N茅el describes wearing a 鈥済reasy fur鈥� bonnet she鈥檇 found abandoned on the trail. Wortley didn鈥檛 go quite that far. This one was hand-knitted by her mother.

When the wool arrived in the mail from an Etsy seller, it was so thin that multiple pieces had to be woven听together to make a decent strand. It was worth the effort, says Wortley:听鈥淭his was the warmest hat I鈥檝e ever had.鈥�

Faux-Fur听Boots

鈥淚 got fake ones because I didn鈥檛 really want fur,鈥� says Wortley, who鈥檚 vegetarian and avoids animal products when she can. These cost around $20听from the market in Leh, India,听and were of a similar style to the boots David-N茅el would have worn. They were 鈥渁mazing,鈥� she says. 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 get a single blister.鈥� The only issue with them was on the slippery, snowy parts of the trek. The rubber soles weren鈥檛 grippy, and at times she felt like she was trying to climb a mountain in a pair of Uggs. But this didn鈥檛 discourage听Wortley. After all, 鈥淎lexandra mentioned her slippy rubber-soled boots a lot in her writing, too.鈥�

Yak-Wool Coat

Wortley picked this up from the same market as the boots for about $26. With a woolen sweater and undergarment underneath, 鈥渋t was actually really warm,鈥� she says.听However, the pockets were tiny and therefore useless. 鈥淭hey were good for a tissue, and that鈥檚 about it!鈥�

The coat was also a little too long for her body. 鈥淚 really should have taken it to a tailor when I picked it up,鈥� says Wortley, 鈥渂ut I was in a bit of a fluster and convinced I didn鈥檛 have the time. So whenever I went uphill, I would tread on its bottom and stumble or pull on its neck.鈥�

Asked if she wears the coat on a regular basis at home in London, the answer was an emphatic no.听Since the Himalayas trip involved nightly gatherings around a hearth, she says, 鈥渋t smells like bonfire.鈥�

Wooden Stick

When there鈥檚 not much to do but sit around the fire and look up at the stars each evening, having something to keep your hands busy鈥攍ike a wooden stick for making carvings鈥攃an be a game changer. A wooden pole is also a piece of gear that can legitimately be used as fuel. On the last night, 鈥淪ticky鈥澨齱as burned in an 鈥渁lcohol-, altitude-induced ritual,鈥� says Wortley. You probably wouldn鈥檛 want to do that with your $180 name-brand trekking poles.

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When Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay summited Everest in May 1953, they weren鈥檛 fueled by carbohydrate cocktails and fancy gels or advised by a trained sports nutritionist. Instead, they were powered by intuition and an English candy experiment gone wrong.

In 1869, English confectioner Joseph Wiper was trying to make peppermint creams. At one point, he took his eyes off the sugar he was boiling, and it began to granulate and turn an odd opaque color. Wiper let the mush cool and ended up happy with the result. He began selling the 鈥渕int cakes鈥� from his hometown of Kendal, on the edge of the British Lake District.

The is not, in fact, a cake at all. Fudge-like in texture on the outside with a peppermint patty鈥搒tyle filling, it鈥檚 more like an enlarged York candy. It鈥檚 made from just sugar, water, syrup, and peppermint oil鈥攏ot exactly a nutritional powerhouse. But it unintentionally became a favorite with local hill walkers and climbers almost as soon as it was put to market in the late 1800s. That鈥檚 because when you鈥檙e burning straight through calories鈥攁s many as of them on an Everest summit day鈥攑ure energy is exactly what your body wants. Just one of these bars contains about 379 calories of quick-digesting glucose, so they soon became an easy, tasty way to meet those energy needs.

Seven days before Hillary鈥檚 group set off for Nepal, one of the mountaineers saw an advertisement for the mint cake in a climbing magazine. He wrote to the confectioner with an urgent request for 38 pounds of the candy鈥攖he amount one porter could transport up the mountain by himself. Sweets were still strictly rationed after World War II, so the confectioner and his staff had to pool their ration coupons together to fill the order.

The entire expedition loved it. One member of Hillary鈥檚 team that 鈥渋t was easily the most popular item in our high-altitude ration packs鈥攐ur only criticism is that we did not have enough of it.鈥� But the Kendal Mint Cake鈥檚 appeal boils down to more than just an uncanny ability to satisfy a sweet tooth. Its draw鈥攁nd its efficacy鈥攈as science on its side.

During a high-altitude ascent鈥攄efined as 8,000 feet or more above sea level鈥攜ou have to game your nutrition strategy carefully. There鈥檚 less oxygen near the top of Everest, which forces your body to redistribute blood to the brain, heart, and lungs and decrease the amount of blood flowing to the digestive organs.

Less energy and fewer resources in the digestive system make foods that are high in protein and fats hard to digest, and the effort sucks up energy that is needed elsewhere. Easily digestible foods made from simple carbohydrates (sugars) are much easier for your body to process, and the Committee on Military Nutrition Research in these settings. Decreased blood flow around the digestive organs typically results in a much lower appetite. But hunger aside, the major ascent still requires a tremendous amount of energy to power the muscles and, on Everest, stay warm. Mountaineers must trick themselves into fueling properly by eating small, calorie-dense snacks to stay healthy and prevent bonking.

Another problem at extreme heights: taste. Adrian Ballinger says that 鈥�,鈥� so convincing a mountaineer to eat enough can be quite a challenge A study from the , commissioned by Lufthansa, concluded that dry air is to blame for bad taste. When the air lacks humidity, your nasal passage, mouth, and throat lose their moisture, impairing your sense of smell and taste. At 30,000 feet, our perception of salt drops between 20 and 30 percent, whereas sugar perception dulls by only 15 to 20 percent. That could be why the Kendal Mint Cake, which is basically pure sugar, tastes so good in the death zone.

Since that first 1953 ascent, legendary British mountaineers like Joe Tasker and Sir Chris Bonington have continued to bring Kendal Mint Cakes up Everest. The classic candy is . John Barron, managing director at candy-maker Romney鈥檚, says the confection听has been to 鈥淜2, Kilimanjaro many times鈥ne team even took it about as low as you can possibly go, to some caves in Borneo.鈥� Not a bad legacy for a 19th-century energy bar created by mistake.

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